Many organizations are applying all sorts of digital technologies to improve operational efficiencies, create a better customer, dealer, employee and member experience. How's your digital transformation going?
Recently, Base22 conducted several workshops for our clients related to Branding and Marketing. What is interesting about transformation, digital or any other kind, is the need for alignment across all organizational functions. We are bombarded by messages about the need to transform, the need to apply the latest and greatest digital technologies to make us leaner, more productive and more relevant to the audiences we serve. And what does this messaging really do? It instills fear in the organization. If we do not act right now, our organization will be relegated to the dustbin of history. Maybe I am being a bit melodramatic, but the point is this:
In our rush to stay current and to adopt the latest game-changing technologies, the transformation that organizations desire can devolve into a series of departmental initiatives that are not aligned with any kind of overall digital strategy. The result can be a series of investments that become counter-productive to the entire organization.
With this as some background and context, let me suggest something to consider, A Digital Marketing Workshop. By setting aside two or three days and inviting stakeholders from across your organization, you can reset and reestablish your goals and priorities for your digital marketing plans. Out of this investment of time, you can establish a strategy and roadmap for moving forward. You may be well down the road in your digital transformation, so this workshop can also be viewed as a health check. If you feel you are late to the digital transformation party, this is an excellent first step for you to consider.
Digital Marketing Workshop Approach
We strongly recommend that you bring in an outside facilitator to run your workshop. As tempting as it might sound to try and do this completely in-house, an outside facilitator has no internal agenda and no internal baggage. A good facilitator will stay focused on helping you achieve the outcomes you set for the workshop. Your facilitator needs to have a background in digital marketing and branding. Cross-industry digital marketing experience is a real plus and will provide you with insights and lessons-learned that might apply to your own initiatives.
Workshop Participants
Cross-functional participation is critical, including C-level folks who are ultimately responsible for the strategic direction of the organization. Your list of stakeholders should have representatives from:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Operations
- Channels / Alliances
- Advertising
- Fulfillment
- Finance
- Legal
Expected Outcomes
You will need to agree on the specific outcomes for your own workshop. The agreed outcomes need to be discussed, agreed and communicated well ahead of scheduling the workshop. We have included some sample outcomes to help you get started on developing your own.
- A clearly defined brand promise that will be communicated to all employees
- A marketing and communications roadmap with a focus on driving revenue
- A defined set of Metrics / KPIs for each of your marketing campaigns
- A seamless customer experience across all devices and channels
This workshop is not about technology products or solutions, it is about laying the foundation for your digital marketing strategy. At the end of your workshop, you should have established a high-level roadmap to address your omnichannel marketing strategy.
Agenda Topics and Pre-Work
Be advised a successful workshop will require some pre-work by your facilitator and several workshop participants. Pre-work should include updates on all current and planned digital marketing initiatives and related lessons-learned.
Your workshop agenda will be specific to your organization, but here are a set of agenda topics to help you start preparing your own agenda. For planning purposes, we are using a three-day workshop model.
Day One
- Confirm workshop objectives and expected outcomes
- Update on current branding and marketing initiatives
- Group exercise: Validate current branding and marketing messages
- Team exercise: Are we a House of Brands or a Branded House?
- Each team presents their case
- Facilitated discussion: What is our Brand promise?
- What is our purpose
- What is our future state vision
- Can we succinctly describe our brand promise – what is our elevator pitch?
Day Two
- Facilitated discussion: Develop action plan and roadmap for communicating our brand promise to all stakeholders/employees
- Review current and proposed marketing/campaign plans and challenges and expected outcomes (revenue growth metrics)
- Customers, dealers, other partners
- Facilitated Discussion: What can we do to complement the current marketing plans to accelerate revenue growth?
Day Three
- Facilitated Discussion: Marketing/Sales Roadmap Development
- Confirm specific action plans/campaigns to drive revenue growth (all audiences)
- Confirm owners of each action/campaign
- Determine level of investment (people and funding)
- Create a digital roadmap to support each action/campaign
- Create a traditional roadmap to support each action/campaign
- Build a campaign calendar
- Define success criteria / key performance indicators – benchmark for all future marketing/sales initiatives
Next Steps
We hope this information will help you frame an approach and agenda for your digital marketing workshop. If you would like to discuss your plans with Base22, we would be happy to share our thoughts and ideas. Contact us here.
